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Police hunt body parts dealer
21/08/2005 11:08 - (SA)
Johannesburg - South African police are hunting a suspected Israeli mastermind behind a cash-for-kidney scandal involving top surgeons who performed more than 100 transplants two years ago, the Sunday Times reported.
Ilan Perry, claimed to be the kingpin behind a syndicate that paid more than 100 Brazilian nationals to sell their kidneys, mainly to Israeli patients, is wanted by police after at least five prominent surgeons appeared in court on Wednesday.
"Now he (Perry) is being sought by Project Investigation - a team set up by the police commercial crimes unit which this week brought top South African surgeons before a magistrate," in the east coast port city of Durban.
The paper said John Robbs, head of surgery at Durban's prestigious Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, his deputy Ariff Haffejee, St Augustine's hospital surgeon Mahadev Naidoo, and surgeons Neil Christopher and Kapil Satyapal were not formally charged or asked to plead and released on bail.
The doctors face charges of contravening South Africa's Human Tissue Act, more than 100 charges of assault to do grievous bodily harm and fraud, police spokeswoman Thindile Radebe told AFP.
"They have been charged with contravening the Human Tissue Act," she said, with the State claiming they have been involved in 110 illegal kidney transplants at Durban's St Augustine's hospital two years ago.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Perry, the Sunday Times said.
US-based organ-traffing watchdog Organs Watch this week identified South Africa, China India, the Philippines and Thailand as "hotspots" for the trade.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a medical anthropologist and Organs Watch director said developing countries were considered ideal for organ brokers because they have "First-World medicine at Third-World prices" combined with a "don't ask, don't tell policy."
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